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Slovenia - Part
2
A day trip to the capital then on to more mountains rivers and an old spa
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Part 1
Part 3
Part 4
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Day 4 - a day in Ljubljana
We drove to Ljubljana which took about one hour on busy roads but would have been a bit
quicker if we had gone via the motorway although it doesn't go into the
centre of the city and the northwestern section of the ring road is still
being constructed. Traffic into the centre was very heavy with a couple of
confusing junctions but once there, (lorries are banned) it wasn't as
congested. The first challenge was finding a parking place. We took a wrong
turning near the bus station and ended up in a very narrow one way street
where someone had double parked so had to wait about ten minutes until he
moved then just managed to exit the street by folding the mirrors in.
Parking was limited to a couple of hours in most streets but eventually we
found a quiet side street to the south east of the centre alongside the
river bank where we were able to park all day. It was about 20 minutes walk
into the centre which is mostly pedestrianised. The main attractions are the
triple bridge over the river, the market areas and the shops. We noticed
that most people carried umbrellas even the teenagers so showery weather
seems to be the norm here as it was on the day we visited. There are two
helpful tourist information centres, one just for the city and another
national one which has a reasonably priced internet cafe. We aren't city
lovers so one day was enough for us and we had a tedious slow journey back
to the stellplatz during the evening rush
hour.
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Co-operative Bank building
There are some
interesting old and more modern buildings worth visiting including several
churches and an old style department store with art deco interior, creaky
wooden floors and ladies waiting behind the counters to serve the customers.
Most people in there were tourists like us just looking around. Otherwise
there was a mix of trendy designer and fashion shops.
Papal door at St Nicholas's Cathedral
Shrine on wall of St Nicholas's Cathedral
Ljubljana centre with petite train
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Ljubljana city centre
Art Deco Centromerkur department store
Triple Bridge Ljubljana
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Day 5 Northeast to a mountain valley
We continued our journey by heading northeast towards the Kamniske Savinje Alps via the old
town of Kamnik, driving up through woods hoping to take the cable car to the
alpine plateau of Velika Planina but it wasn't operating. We returned down
the valley and took the road around the hills passing through Gornji Grad
where there's the largest cathedral in Slovenia (so we discovered later)
and up another valley through the town of Luce with a wooden road bridge
with a 10 Tonne weight limit. We had to stop suddenly as a very heavily laden
logging lorry came over it. We waited for the creaking sounds! Then through more wooded gorges to the nature
reserve at Logarska Dolina (Logar Valley) where after paying a toll of 1200 Tolars we drove
several miles up the picturesque valley with flowered meadows, to the end of
the road at the base of the mountains where there was still some snow and the Slap Rinka waterfall. As we left
the reserve entrance we noticed that it was possible to park motorhomes
overnight in a clearing just to the right, apparently for a fee of 5€ a
night. As it was now raining heavily and we wanted to find a campsite we drove back to the main road and
found a site at Camping Menina at Varpolje near Mozirje where we were met by the
friendly young owner who insisted that everyone listened to his illustrated
talk about the area and its attractions (in English with a bit of Dutch for
the benefit of our fellow campers).
Camping Menina
The site had a small lake and was near the River Savinja. In high season it
has a bar and restaurant but as usual in the low season there was much construction work going on with the
addition of a few log cabins and improved facilities.
Camping Menina entrance with old wine
press
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Logarska Dolina nature reserve
Old farm in Varpolje village
Old house in Varpolje
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Day 6 a trip to get gas - with diversions
As we had not refilled our gas bottle for a couple of weeks and knowing
that there were few autogas refilling places in Slovenia, after a lazy
morning we decided to head to the city of Celje, the third largest town,
where a gas depot was listed. It is a large busy town and we got completely
lost. Stopping at a petrol station to ask for directions we managed with the
help of a motorist who spoke some German and a bit of English to find out
where to get the gas, which was on an industrial estate near a huge modern
shopping centre. We refilled the tank which was in fact only half empty, so
only bought 7 litres for 4€. Having had enough of town driving we headed
north we saw a sign for Dobrno a spa town so headed there. An interesting
mix of old spa buildings and gardens and an ultra modern hotel with a shop
consisting of an old kiosk that sold everything (but was closed!). Obviously
thermal spa resorts are still a big thing in Slovenia!
One-stop shop at Dobrno
A short drive took us to Velenje a "new" town built by Tito in the
Communist era where we stopped at a Spar shopping precinct to get some cash
and found a traditional Slovenian band playing in the mall. Leaving Velenje
via back roads through housing estates and a huge coal mine and industrial
complex we returned across pleasant wooded hills to Camping Menina
Traditional Slovenian band
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Old spa building at Dobrno
Modern hotel at Dobrno
Weather station at Dobrno spa
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